U.S. experiences warmest 12-month period on record
The past twelve months were the warmest twelve months in U.S. history, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Tuesday, in their monthly "State of the Climate" report. Temperatures in the contiguous U.S. during May 2011 - April 2012 broke the previous record for warmest 12-month period, set November 1999 - October 2000, by 0.1°F. The past twelve months have featured America's 2nd warmest summer, 4th warmest winter, and warmest March on record. Twenty-two states were record warm for the 12-month period, and an additional nineteen states were top ten warm. NOAA said that the January - April 2012 period was also the warmest January - April period since record keeping began in 1895. The average temperature of 45.4°F during January - April 2012 was 5.4°F above the 20th century average for the period, and smashed the previous record set in 2006 by an unusually large margin--1.6°F.
Figure 1. The ten warmest 12-month periods in the contiguous U.S. since record keeping began in 1895. Image credit: NOAA/NCDC.
Figure 2. The average temperature of 45.4°F during January - April 2012 was the warmest on record: 5.4°F above the 20th century average for the period, and was 1.6°F above the previous record set in 2006. January - April temperatures have been rising at about 1.9°F per century since 1895. Image credit: NOAA/NCDC.
April 2012: 3rd warmest on record
April 2012 was the third warmest April in the contiguous U.S. since record keeping began in 1895. Ten states had a top-ten warmest April, and no states were cooler than average. But what's really remarkable about April was that eight states--Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia--had average April temperatures cooler than their March temperatures, even though their April temperatures were still above the long-term average for the month. These statistics show just how remarkably warm March 2012 was. Most extreme was Illinois, where April 2012 temperatures ranked in the top 20% for warmest Aprils, yet were cooler than March 2012 temperatures.
Figure 3. Temperature rankings for April 2012 in the Contiguous U.S. Ten states had a top-ten warmest April, and no states were cooler than average. Image credit: NOAA/NCDC.
Figure 4. NOAA's U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) for January - April shows that 2012 had the most extreme weather on record.
Most extreme January - April on record
NOAA's U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI), an index that tracks the highest 10 percent and lowest 10 percent of extremes in temperature, precipitation, and drought, was 42% during the January-April period, over twice the average value, and the greatest on record. Remarkably, 82% of the contiguous U.S. had maximum temperatures that were in the warmest 10% historically, and 68% had warm minimum temperatures in the top 10%, with records going back to 1910. The previous records were 56% (2000) and 57% (1992) for maximum and minimum temperatures, respectively. The percentage area of the U.S. experiencing top-10% drought conditions during January - April was 19%, which was the 17th greatest since 1910. Extremes in precipitation as computed by the CEI were near average for the January - April period.
Jeff Masters
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Similar to May 2009. Not surprised as we are heading into a El-Nino.
I'm freezing inside and it's 69F.
Yes, I think it's moving faster than the models forecast, or else the models are expecting it to back-build some maybe.
Wow that IS a powerful looking wave heading east toward FL. Great weather for the weekend and the rain that we need for the work week....PERFECT!
Link
40% chance of storms here in Orlando on Sunday and maybe soon if this line continues to barrel east along the Gulf Coast.
Euro Shows nothing but tropical moisture streaming north into FL while combining with an Upper Low in the Gulf, GFS full fledged Alberto Either going to FL or Bahamas, CMC about the same as the Euro tropical moisture streaming into FL in 10 days. My bet is the Euro has the better idea of what will happen and that's just lots of rain heading north into FL while merging with an upper low similar to the set up we had this time in May 2009.
Yes, it is.
With this being mid May I would not be surprised to come all the way across the Gulf over the next 18 hours. Lots of moisture and heat across the Gulf and FL to sustain this line all the way across the Gulf.
There almost appears to be two centers in that blob.
12 GMT 05/11/12 8.7N 104.8W 20 1007 Invest
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
ISSUED 613 AM CDT FRI MAY 11 2012/
UPDATE...
UPDATE TO REMOVE FLOOD WATCH FROM TODAY.
DISCUSSION...
LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS CONTINUING TO MOVE OUT OF THE CWA THIS
MORNING. ADDITIONAL RAINS COULD BE HEAVY IN SPOTS THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING BUT FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES REMAIN IN THE 2.5+
CATEGORY FOR 1 HOUR RATES SO LET WATCH TERMINATE EARLY.BRIEF MORNING RESPITE EXPECTED BEFORE MORE DISORGANIZED
CONVECTION FORMS BY EARLY AFTERNOON ACROSS THE CWA. ARW/NMM
MESOMODEL RUNS SUGGEST MORE ORGANIZED CONVECTION POSSIBLE BY THIS
EVENING BEGINNING IN NW AND N PART OF CWA WHICH MOVES THROUGH
OVERNIGHT. ARW/NMM BEEN DOING QUITE WELL LATELY SO WILL FOLLOW ITS
GUIDANCE.
The NWS thinks most of today will be pleasant, but another line may form up and push through in the early evening (likely due to the heat of the day + the low destabilizing the atmosphere). I wouldn't call this a busted forecast for Houston, though - we did get storms, they did form up into a line, and they did come through between 06z and 12z. They just had a bit of a lead foot when they came through, which reduced rain totals.
Awesome to hear you got some rain. I would have liked more here, but y'all needed it more than we do.
Not less than five days in a row of temperatures above 20C were felt during this highly anomalous March heat wave.
About the only region in the world experiencing general record cold at the moment is the extreme NW US (western Washington and western Oregon) and a small section of Canada around Vancouver.
"But what's really remarkable about April was that eight states--Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia--had average April temperatures cooler than their March temperatures, even though their April temperatures were still above the long-term average for the month." That's astounding that such a large area experienced a warm April--yet April wasn't as warm as March.
Watch this:
Tee hee.
Antarctica isn't warming at all. In fact, it's gaining ice.
*sarcasm flag off again now*
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